This website contains information about some of the road races in the counties of Kerry, Limerick, Clare, Tipperary and Waterford in Munster, Ireland. For races in Cork, see the Running in Cork website which is the largest athletics website in Munster. That site also contains plenty of national and international news items as well.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

There are only a few days left before the entries to this unique 15 mile road race in Kerry close (Entries Close Fri 1st July). For anyone who hasn't done this race before, here is a brief outline...

The race starts at about 800 feet above sea level near Moll's Gap. Initially it's flat but as you approach the Gap itself, the road starts to drop and you have a stunning view across to the Macgillycuddy's Reeks and the highest mountains in Ireland.

From here the road continues to drop as you run with lakes and mountains as a backdrop for the race..... Past Lady's View......Looking down on the Upper Lakes......and eventually you turn off into Killarney National Park.

This is a change from last year which stayed on the road outside. Through the park and finishing near Muckross House...

The really unique feature about this race is that the road is actually closed to traffic. Normally as part of the famous Ring of Kerry, there is no way you could run let alone walk on this road due to all the buses and traffic. This race is a chance to sample what is possibly one of the nicest stretches of road in the country.

The 15 mile route has been officially measured using a Jones counter and has an Athletics Ireland race permit.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Just under 1000 people turned out for this 10k road race in Ennis, Co.Clare. The winner of the mens race was Sean Hehir of Rathfarnham WSAF in a time of 29:43. The womens race was won by Veronica Colleran of Ennis Track Club in a time of 36:46

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

This 10 km road race in Cappamaore in east Limerick attracted a large field of 235 runners. In the mens races, Michael Shannon from Kilnaboy AC in Clare finished 1st with a time of 33:01. Martin Doody of Limerick AC finished 2nd in 33:39 while Danny Smith of Ballynonty AC ran 33:56 to take 3rd.

In the ladies race, local Rosmary Ryan of Bilboa ran 36:08 to take 1st place. Tracey Roche of Dooneen AC finished 2nd in 36:40 while Mary Louise Ryan of Bilboa AC finished 3rd in 41:03.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

This 5 mile road race in Clashmore in west Waterford attracted a field of 165 runners, slightly down on last year's figure of 171.
The mens race was won by Brian Murphy of Carrick-on-Suir in a time of 26:21. The womens race was won by Corinna Walsh of West Waterford AC in 30:48.

Pictured are members of the Ledingham Family Clashmore presenting the Edmund Ledingham memorial cup

to the winner of the 2011 Old Still Bar Clashmore 5 mile road race Brian Murphy of Carrick On Suir AC

( back row third from right ). On far left is race sponsor Joe Salmon.

At the end of May, Athletics Ireland released their current membership details based on the numbers in individual clubs. While it's interesting in itself, it's only when you extract some of the data and graph it that it becomes clearer.

Basically, I took the figures for each club and removed all of the juveniles so that I was left with adults only...i.e. those that are most likely to be taking part in some sort of road race or similar event. Now while some clubs are more track and field orientated, the majority are involved in some sort of running. These are the 10 largest clubs...

Based on the number of adult members, Gneeveguilla AC with 113 are by far the largest club in the Kingdom. While the village of Gneeveguilla itself is very small, no doubt the marority of it's members are from the catchment area of the town of Killarney where the club has a very active Fit4Life programme.

Most of the remaining clubs are from the North Kerry region within the catchments areas of towns like Tralee and Castleisland.

The numbers in south Kerry in contrast are very low but perhaps reflect the lower population density there?

This 4 mile road race in Kilkenny had a field of just over 300 entrants. The mens race was won by Andrew Ledwith of Fr.Murphy AC in a time of 18:57 while the womens race was won by Linda Byrne in 22:20.